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Air Show Adds Stealth Bomber To Event Lineup

OCEAN CITY — One week after a headline act of the 2011 Ocean City Air Show became jeopardized, organizers this week announced a B-2 Stealth Bomber flyover had been added to this year’s line-up.

Air Show organizer Bryan Lilley said the Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber will do a flyover at the 2011 Ocean City Air Show in June on Saturday afternoon. Lilley said getting the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, based at the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, to do a flyover is quite a coup for the Ocean City Air Show and fits in perfectly with the 2011 “Year of Extreme Flight” theme.

“We’re in our fourth year and because of the real world operations of the 509th Bomber Wing, the stealth bombers just don’t do too many air shows,” said Lilley. “For us to land that flyover is just huge. It really adds to the whole extreme flight theme.”

The B-2 Spirit is just one of 50 stealth bombers in the U.S. Air Force’s arsenal in the world. Called the “flying wing,” it appears to defy logic and common sense, but is considered perhaps the most effective strategic weapon the Air Force has at its disposal. Lilley said its appearance should be phenomenal.

“It’s literally a flying wing, and when you see it, you can’t understand how it works,” he said. “We’ll see it, but it won’t be seen on radar. When we see it coming from a distance, even at a mile away, it will look just like a little sliver or a thin line coming at us, but when it roars over at around 1,000 feet, it’s going to be special.”

Lilley said the addition of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber adds another whole dimension to the show.

“The response to this has already been amazing as the word has gotten out,” he said. “The interest in the B-2 is exceeding the buzz around the jet teams because the stealth bombers just don’t make too many appearances.”

With the Air Show now just three weeks out, Lilley said he continues to add more and more acts.

“We’ve had a flurry of activity even in the last 48 hours and we’re going to be adding a lot more to the line-up before we’re finished,” he said. “We could end up with one of the most dynamic line-up of aircraft ever assembled for an air show.”

Meanwhile, there is no news on the appearance of the F-22 Raptors, which were placed on indefinite stand-down last week after problems with the aircraft’s oxygen systems were identified although Lilley remains hopeful.